Watching Monster's Inc. I was left really wishing I had Finding Nemo & The Incredibles on hi-def. Pixar sure does some purdy looking blu-rays but thinking about it, Disney is one of the best companies in general on that end.

"The most dementing of all modern sins: the inability to distinquish excellence from success."-David Hare

Warner Home Video has announced two classic movies starring Humphrey Bogart and directed by John Huston for release on Blu-ray on October 5: the 1941 detective story The Maltese Falcon, based on a novel by Dashiell Hammett, and the 1947 anti-heroic adventure The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

The Treasure of the Sierra MadreCommentary by Bogart biographer Eric LaxFeaturette: Discovering Treasure: The Story of The Treasure of the Sierra MadreFeature-length documentary profile: John HustonOuttakesClassic Cartoon: 8 Ball BunnyWarner Night at the Movies 1948 – Short Subjects Gallery:NewsreelJoe McDoakes Comedy Short: So You Want to Be a DetectiveClassic Cartoon: Hot Cross BunnyTrailers:The Treasure of the Sierra MadreKey LargoAudio-Only Bonus: Radio show adaptation featuring the movie's original stars

According to Fox, the four Alien films have been "reinvigorated for an intense Blu-ray high-definition viewing experience." It will take advantage of Blu-ray technology by incorporating the MU-TH-UR Mode, an interactive feature that lets you access the special features on all six discs and provides an index of all available content. And what does that content include? About 60 hours of special features and over 12,000 images, including material from the legendary early '90s LaserDisc release, the "Legacy" release and, of course, the Quadrilogy.

There will also be new, previously unreleased content, such as original screen tests of Sigourney Weaver prior to filming the original Alien, unseen deleted scenes, the previously unseen original cut of "Wreckage and Rage: The Making of Alien3" and more.

In addition to over 12 hours of candid, in-depth documentaries, you now have the ability to go even deeper into Alien Anthology history with nearly five hours of additional video Enhancement Pods created exclusively for this collection, presenting behind-the-scenes footage, raw dailies and interview outtakes from all four films. At topical points in the documentaries, you may access these pods to enhance your experience, or watch them on their own from the separate Enhancement Pod index.

Man, between the "Alien" Box, "Back To the Future" trilogy, this and the Criterion haul ("Paths of Glory," "Seven Samurai," "House," etc.) October will separate the Blu-ray boys from their manly wallets!

Double post because I remembered that a few of Scorsese's underrated films either need better treatment or would be awesome in Blu. The Age Of Innocene, After Hours, The King Of Comedy, The Last Tempation Of Christ, Kundun, Bringing Out The Dead, Casino ... yeah where are they? - this is only one of the most important american filmmakers of the last 40 or so years. Heck even Taxi Driver isn't out yet...

Isn't this what was on the original dvd release anyway? Considering the huge collection I have, I am looking at replacing the movies that are color first that are worth upgrading to rather than dipping into these B&W ones. Is there any validity in doing that?

J.M. Vargas wrote:

Warner Home Video has announced two classic movies starring Humphrey Bogart and directed by John Huston for release on Blu-ray on October 5: the 1941 detective story The Maltese Falcon, based on a novel by Dashiell Hammett, and the 1947 anti-heroic adventure The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

The Treasure of the Sierra MadreCommentary by Bogart biographer Eric LaxFeaturette: Discovering Treasure: The Story of The Treasure of the Sierra MadreFeature-length documentary profile: John HustonOuttakesClassic Cartoon: 8 Ball BunnyWarner Night at the Movies 1948 – Short Subjects Gallery:NewsreelJoe McDoakes Comedy Short: So You Want to Be a DetectiveClassic Cartoon: Hot Cross BunnyTrailers:The Treasure of the Sierra MadreKey LargoAudio-Only Bonus: Radio show adaptation featuring the movie's original stars

AddisonDewitt wrote:Isn't this what was on the original dvd release anyway? Considering the huge collection I have, I am looking at replacing the movies that are color first that are worth upgrading to rather than dipping into these B&W ones. Is there any validity in doing that?

It is entirely up to you and whether you're a big-enough fan of a movie (i.e. you come back again and again often enough) to justify to yourself the cost of an upgrade. If you don't own a movie and there's an equally-priced DVD and Blu-ray version available (Criterion's new "Stagecoach" comes to mind) you'd be a fool not to go with the Blu IF the transfer is good. Personally I couldn't live with my (pretty good) Criterion two-disc DVD of "The Third Man" so I upgraded to Blu on that one, while "M" (which I admire and like but haven't seen more than three times) is perfectly fine to me in DVD even though the Blu version is better. Don't assume that because it's B&W the jump to high-def isn't as dramatic as with color. While some B&W movies don't look too much different from DVD to Blu ("The 400 Blows" comes to mind) the high-def transfers of old B&W movies like "The Seventh Seal," "Casablanca" and "The Wages of Fear" (to name just three of the really good one's) are every bit as startling and eye-popping as a color movie. So no, there's no validity to a B&W movie not looking dramatically better on Blu than on DVD. There is validity, however, to whether the upgrade is worth it if you already own a movie and it isn't watched often-enough to be worth the cost of an upgrade. Sales like the current one at B&N make this sort of decisions even trickier.

I think when done properly b&w looks even better in hi-def than color movies do. Just saying. Bearing that in mind and getting back on topic, give me some film noir on blu-ray dammit! I really, really wish both Sony & Warners had released blu-ray verisons of their recent film noir sets.

"The most dementing of all modern sins: the inability to distinquish excellence from success."-David Hare

Thanks Vargas. I kindo f asked this on purpose about B&W because although I am a massive dvd collector, I am new to the Blu Ray scene. Plus the advancement of downloads as well as personal financial issues (all good actually - just a new house and adoption expenses) I want to invest wisely. The Stagecoach Criterion is a winner though.

J.M. Vargas wrote:

AddisonDewitt wrote:Isn't this what was on the original dvd release anyway? Considering the huge collection I have, I am looking at replacing the movies that are color first that are worth upgrading to rather than dipping into these B&W ones. Is there any validity in doing that?

It is entirely up to you and whether you're a big-enough fan of a movie (i.e. you come back again and again often enough) to justify to yourself the cost of an upgrade. If you don't own a movie and there's an equally-priced DVD and Blu-ray version available (Criterion's new "Stagecoach" comes to mind) you'd be a fool not to go with the Blu IF the transfer is good. Personally I couldn't live with my (pretty good) Criterion two-disc DVD of "The Third Man" so I upgraded to Blu on that one, while "M" (which I admire and like but haven't seen more than three times) is perfectly fine to me in DVD even though the Blu version is better. Don't assume that because it's B&W the jump to high-def isn't as dramatic as with color. While some B&W movies don't look too much different from DVD to Blu ("The 400 Blows" comes to mind) the high-def transfers of old B&W movies like "The Seventh Seal," "Casablanca" and "The Wages of Fear" (to name just three of the really good one's) are every bit as startling and eye-popping as a color movie. So no, there's no validity to a B&W movie not looking dramatically better on Blu than on DVD. There is validity, however, to whether the upgrade is worth it if you already own a movie and it isn't watched often-enough to be worth the cost of an upgrade. Sales like the current one at B&N make this sort of decisions even trickier.

I'm Addison Dewitt. I'm nobody's fool, least of all yours.

There is only room for one diva here, and that's f@#cking me! - Gay, Straight, or Taken? contestant

...we can confirm that the studio [Zoetrope] IS currently working on an ultimate Blu-ray release of Apocalypse Now. And from what we've heard, they are absolutely doing it right and including everything you'd want from an ultimate release of the film. (Note that a pre-order listing for just such a release appeared very briefly on Amazon.ca about a week ago, but was quickly pulled. It indicated the set would include BOTH cuts of the film AND the Hearts of Darkness documentary in the same package.)

So the good news: "AN" is coming, both versions (theatrical and Redux) will be included and "Heart of Darkness" might also be coming (and remastered in high-def to boot). The bad news: Storaro is still breathing, and as long as that's the case you can kiss "AN's" original aspect ratio goodbye.

Thinking about this as I was listening to the soundtrack the other day... I'd love to have Ken Russell's Altered States in hi-def. Visually ambitious and a tremendously engaging movie. Actually, I think that would be a good pick for Criterion, but I'd be happy with some sort of hi-def release either way.

cdouglas wrote:Thinking about this as I was listening to the soundtrack the other day... I'd love to have Ken Russell's Altered States in hi-def. Visually ambitious and a tremendously engaging movie. Actually, I think that would be a good pick for Criterion, but I'd be happy with some sort of hi-def release either way.

That is so wierd. I was thinking yesterday about wanting Altered States on blu. Great news on AN...now for The Conversation please.

"The most dementing of all modern sins: the inability to distinquish excellence from success."-David Hare

cdouglas wrote:Ooh, Apocalypse Now and Hearts of Darkness in one set?.

Yes, OCTOBER 19th: http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=4914. October is officially now the death row month of Blu-ray catalogue options: "AN," "Alien Series," "Back to the Future" Trilogy, the Bogart movies from Warner, "Seven Samurai" and the other Criterions, etc.

Oh, and Ergo Proxy. Speaking of which, is there a resource that lists which anime titles are natively HD? I understand that most anime has been (and in many cases, still is) produced in SD, so most BR releases are upconversions. The only two titles I know were produced in HD are Samurai 7 and Ergo Proxy.

Andrew Forbes wrote:Oh, and Ergo Proxy. Speaking of which, is there a resource that lists which anime titles are natively HD? I understand that most anime has been (and in many cases, still is) produced in SD, so most BR releases are upconversions. The only two titles I know were produced in HD are Samurai 7 and Ergo Proxy.

Based on the pretty drastic difference between the DVD and blu-Ray transfers, i'd say Sword of the Stranger was a high-def master as well, likewise Appleseed: Ex Machina. I'd wager to guess that most of the theatrical features are at least, while series are more likely produced in SD. It's all created digitally, so I wouldn't be surprised if they start life as 1080p masters.

Andrew Forbes wrote:Oh, and Ergo Proxy. Speaking of which, is there a resource that lists which anime titles are natively HD? I understand that most anime has been (and in many cases, still is) produced in SD, so most BR releases are upconversions. The only two titles I know were produced in HD are Samurai 7 and Ergo Proxy.

Based on the pretty drastic difference between the DVD and blu-Ray transfers, i'd say Sword of the Stranger was a high-def master as well, likewise Appleseed: Ex Machina. I'd wager to guess that most of the theatrical features are at least, while series are more likely produced in SD. It's all created digitally, so I wouldn't be surprised if they start life as 1080p masters.

Yeah, I should have specified that I was referring to TV titles. Theatrical stuff is obviously going to be mastered with a ton of detail. From what I have read, however, virtually all TV production is SD, save for a few prestige titles.

The Bridge on the River Kwai just went up for pre-order at Amazon. No release date listed just yet, but it's exciting to know this is on the way. Amazon also has a list of special features, which may or may not be reliable/complete:

35 page book with stories and photos from the productionReplications of the original lobby cardsBonus DVD version of the movieWilliam Holden and Alec Guinness on The Steve Allen ShowNewly Discovered archival audio of William Holden Narrating The Bridge on the River Kwai PremiereCrossing the Bridge: Picture-in-Graphics track and more

Nice! I still wish Russell hadn't made the actors sing and not rerecorded the music.The film is one wild ride but I still prefer listening to the cd because of this. My fondest wishes would be Mahler and The Devils...

If they were to do the Val Lewton box in Blu that would oh-so-incredibly cool, but I'd settle for Cat People. Would seriously dig the Haunting, but Dagon was creep inducing enough on DVD, any better definition and I'd have nightmares for weeks...and NO, Bryan, we do NOT need Burnt Offerings on Blu!!!!! I'm already dreading my annual Halloween viewing/sleep with the lights on until early December ritual enough as it is!!!

"I ain't a boy, no I'm a man, and I believe in the Promised Land"-Coming to the USA on January 20, 2009!

from my most-wanted list, the following are being released in Sept/Oct. -The Darjeeling Limited - and it's CRITERION! THX-1138Treasure of the Sierra MadreDanny The Dog (aka Unleashed) - couldn't ever bring myself to pay $50 for the importCharade (Criterion)Stardust